DIP-PEN NANOLITHOGRAPHY™ printing (DPN™ printing) is a high resolution direct patterning technique in which an “ink” is transferred to a substrate using conventional nanoscopic tips including, for example, scanning probe microscopic (SPM) and atomic force microscopic (AFM) tips. See, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 60/115,133, filed Jan. 7, 1999; 60/157,633, filed Oct. 4, 1999; 09/477,997, filed Jan. 5, 2000; 60/207,711, filed May 26, 2000; 60/207,713, filed May 26, 2000; 09/866,533, filed May 24, 2001; and 60/326,767, filed Oct. 2, 2001, and PCT applications numbers PCT/US00/00319, filed Jan. 7, 2000 (publication number WO 00/41213), and PCT/US01/17067, filed May 25, 2001, the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
DIP-PEN NANOLITHOGRAPHY™ printing and DPN™ are trademarks of NanoInk, Inc., Chicago, Ill. DPN-related products including hardware, software, instrumentation, and kits can be obtained from NanoInk.
The development of dip pen nanolithographic printing is described in patent application Ser. No. 09/866,533, filed May 24, 2001, particularly in the “Background of the Invention” section (pages 1-3), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
DPN printing can be used for many ink-substrate combinations including, for example, alkylthiol and arylthiol self-assembly on gold (reference 1) and has also been extended to silazanes on semiconductor surfaces (reference 3) and metal structures on conductive surfaces (reference 4). In addition, it has been used extensively as a way of making patterns out of simple organic and complex biological molecules, including thiol-functionalized proteins and alkylthiol-modified oligonucleotides, which can be used to direct the assembly of higher-ordered architectures (reference 5).
Solid state microscale structures are important to industry including the electronics and optical communications industries. To increase the speed and device density of integrated circuits, it is important to make structures even smaller than currently possible. It is an important commercial goal of nanotechnology to manufacture solid state structures on a nanoscale.
A variety of patterning techniques have been used in attempts to fabricate nanoscale structures including photolithography, X-ray lithography, and electron beam lithography. However, attempted miniaturization in making electronic and optical devices can generate significant problems. For example, failure to provide adequate separation between electrical current carrying features may lead to short circuiting. Additionally, both optical and electrical features must be well defined and be dimensionally accurate to ensure that the devices operate as designed.
The prior art lithographic methods for making nanoscale solid state features are generally limited to scales larger than nanoscopic. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a process which has the nanoscale precision and capability of DPN printing and the ability to form glass and ceramic structures. Preferably, the process should include a suitable reactive process such as, for example, sol-gel processes. Sol-gel chemistry is a useful industrial method for making inorganic components including the formation of metal oxides from metal oxide precursors.